A picture of concentration

With hours left to go, the Carbon High Dino will need a late push if supporters want to make the unique mascot the best in the country.

Carbon High Senior George Deeter voted across three machines in the Carbon High School Library on Monday Night. Deeter along with a majority of the student body and faculty have immersed themselves in mascot pride by voting almost continually in the USA Today's High School Sports Best Mascot in the Nation contest.

In addition to bringing the school and community together, the contest has fostered empathy and commonality between Carbon students and their fieriest competition the Centralia Orphans from Illinois. As the Illinois school also has a history associated with coal mining and they have sent many kind words to the Carbon community following this weekend's tragic roof collapse at the Rhino Mine in Emery County.

"We have been chatting with them on the comment section of the website," said one Carbon High official. "They have been extremely positive and once they got wind of the mine collapse and from that our relationship has blossomed and grown. They are also in a mining community and in I believe it was in 1966 they had their own disaster and lost 111 miners. They understand what we are going through."

While the winning prize is modest in the eyes of students, the process and the pride associated with pushing the Carbon Dino to the top is all the motivation the Carbon Community needs. Since Carbon students launched the Dino into contention over the past few weeks, the local community has voted almost around the clock, with school officials sponsoring and organizing multiple "vote till you drop," events to help provide the computers and space necessary to keep the constant voting going.

According to several students, interest in the contest has brought the entire school together bringing forward school spirit from students who had never participated in school activities before.

"One girl came in and voted for eight hours," said school Media Specialist Carol Chiara, who has championed voting among the faculty. "As she staggered out, she commented that if she didn't have school spirit before, she sure did now."

At press time, the Dinos were down almost 30 percent to the Orphans and were planning another voting party to try and bridge the gap.

Check out the Sun Advocate online at www.sunad.com and read Thursday's edition for information concerning the contest's conclusion.